Show-Me State Times

A shopper at Harps Food Stores in West Plains, Missouri, became a $50,000 winner with a Missouri Lottery "500X" Scratchers ticket. The store, located at 705 Kentucky Ave., presented a lucky opportunity for the winner who was joyfully surprised upon discovering the prize.

“I usually play the $50 games because I think you have a better chance to win bigger prizes,” the winner expressed. The ticket was promptly scratched inside the store, revealing the $50,000 prize. “I kept having to look at all the zeros,” she recounted, adding, “I think I screamed in the grocery store!”

The prize money will be allocated towards completing a home remodeling project that the winner had already initiated.

Thus far, the "500X" game has awarded players over $177.3 million. At the moment, more than $80.3 million in prizes are yet to be claimed, including 18 additional $50,000 prizes and the grand prize of $5 million.

Missouri Lottery participants in Howell County collectively won over $7.8 million in prizes in the fiscal year 2024. Additionally, retailers garnered commissions and bonuses totaling more than $677,000, and local education programs benefited by receiving over $920,000 from Lottery proceeds.